Voting patterns, turnout remain unchanged in DeKalb County

By AMANDA PODGORNY

Voting in DeKalb County remained consistent from the 2004 election.

Voter turnout in DeKalb for the 2008 DeKalb County general elections was 74.37 percent, according to the DeKalb County Web site.

Overall, the election process throughout the county went smoothly, said DeKalb County Clerk Sharon Holmes.

“Everything went like clockwork,” Holmes said. “I had great election judges… they knew what their job was and got it done. It was a well-oiled machine today.”Alyssa Plochocki, junior pre-physical therapy major and first time voter, was comfortable with the voting process because of the judges.

“It wasn’t really intimidating at all because… everyone was helpful inside,” Plochocki said.

Eric Anderson, freshman math education major, felt things went quickly for him as well.

“It took less than two minutes for me to get in there and [vote],” Anderson said.

A misunderstanding with registration was the only issue during the election, Holmes said.

“Problems came with people thinking that they were registered in DeKalb County but were not, so they were not able to vote,” Holmes said.

Unlike past elections, Holmes said the early morning voting was the busiest time of the day. Jonathan Collette, junior visual communications major, voted later in the evening and noticed a lack of voters at that time.

“I was expecting a whole ton of people to be here,” Collette said. “But there were four people in there and five people ready to take your vote and give you your sheet.”